Responding to a Russian demonstration of nuclear muscle-flexing

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine unfolds, Vladimir Putin has raised the specter of using nuclear weapons to achieve his goals several times. On February 24—the day Russia launched its assault on Ukraine—Putin threatened any interfering parties with consequences “such as you have never seen in your entire history,” a statement widely interpreted as a nuclear threat. On February 27, Putin “a special combat duty regime in the Russian army’s deterrence forces.”  On March 1, Russia’s Northern Fleet said that several of its nuclear submarines were involved in exercises designed to “train maneuvering in stormy conditions,” while the Russian defense ministry said that mobile nuclear missile launchers had dispersed in Siberia to practice secret deployments.